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JANUARY 2007
Publisher's Box On Wednesday, June 21, 2006, Residents' Journal Editor-in-Chief and Beauty Turner
were mistreated by Chicago Police officers.
House of Screams For over two decades, up to 200 African American men were tortured and abused
at the hands of former Chicago Police Detective Jon Burge
and other law enforcers, according to a recently released
criminal report by special federal investigators..
Checking Chicago's War on Drugs Relocated and current Chicago public housing residents,
as well as their private market neighbors in poverty-stricken areas
want to know what the city police force is doing about their safety.
Security Problems Continue for Residents Crime continues to weigh on the minds of many families
in the Bronzeville, Auburn Gresham and Englewood areas, where many public housing residents have relocated under the
Chicago Housing Authority's $1.6 billion Plan for Transformation.
Last Days at Ogden Courts I recently moved out of Ogden Courts after living there for 10 years.
Ogden courts consisted of two buildings. Each one was seven stories high and there were 10 apartments on each floor.
The one I lived in was 2710 W. Ogden Ave. The second one was 2650 W. Ogden. We lived across the street from Mt. Sinai Hospital.
Ickes And Other CHA News Once again, the residents of Harold Ickes Homes have been rewarded with a new
manager. Her name is Renell Caint. Once again, we are faced with a new person not familiar
withe residents, a person unknown to the residents. The reasons for the successive changes have
never been fully revealed.
Altgeld Gardens News I toured the Altgeld Gardens public housing development on the fare South Side
following the June 20, 2006 Chicago Housing Authority Board of Commissioners meeting after several
residents strongly encouraged me to talk to tenants they said had some concerns about their
rehabbed units.
Guard Recklessly Shoots CHA Youth Amid sizzling weather on May 30, tempers were blazing between tenants of the
Chicago Housing Authority's LeClaire Courts complex and the development's security guards. A
confrontation between residents and security guards left 12-year-old Marcus Finley shot and
wounded.
A Questionable Connection Update Terry Peterson was the head of the Chicago Housing Authority until earlier this
year. Now he is the manager of Mayor Richard M. Daley's campaign for reelection. But in the months
preceding Peterson's departure from the helm of the CHA, a ward organization closely linked to
him saw a sharp drop in contributions.
Illegal Immigration: Cries for Justice Around town and around the nation, many voices have been crying out for justice
regarding the issues of illegal immigration. At a massive march on May 1 in Chicago, hundreds of
thousands of undocumented illegal aliens and their advocates marched and rallied demanding labor
and civil rights, as well as to convince U.S. congressional leaders to give them amnesty for their
illegal entries into America.
Whose School Is It? The Little Village High School, 3120 S. Kostner Ave., opened in September 2005
after parents waited years for it to be built as promised by the Board of Education. But after
just one semester, the school of four small schools located in the city's Latino community had
already become the subject of debate.
Crystal Clear Views I was recently invited to speak at a panel discussion to talk about a scary
incident I had with asthma last summer. I almost died because I didn't take care of myself the
way I should have.
A Special Tribute The last time I saw Izora Davis, a We The People Media board member, neighborhood
activist and my good friend, was during a black-out that left much of the South Side without power
on the first day of August. Izora was leaning on her walker in the heat in front of 3983 S. Lake
Park, a high-rise public housing building that she had saved more than a decade before.
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